It seems that publishers are getting sued or threatened for possibly sharing vid

Question

It seems that publishers are getting sued or threatened for possibly sharing video watching information - information that an individual has watched a video, before this individual has explicitly decided to share that information. Sharing this without the watcher's consent would be illegal.

How can I tell if video websites (like nbcsports.com/videos, discovery.com or Huffington Post) with sharing buttons/widgets are sharing what video I'm watching, before I make a conscious effort to share that information with others?

Explanation / Answer

The answer to this is limited by the extents of sharing and personality one might deem significant to their own privacy. Most websites like these are legally obligated to reference a privacy policy linked at the foot of every page to describe what information is collected, how it may be shared and with whom (in terms of the content provider's relationship with potential recipients or consumers of your information), and most of the time there is also a standalone rundown of all personally identifiable information involved, taken by itself for thorough emphasis.

In the case of Facebook, there are explicit controls governing pretty much every aspect of what is shared on your profile. It is uncomfortable, I agree, to find that some website or other application that I accessed via Facebook Connect has broadcasted every detail of my use to all of my contacts (and the public). Take SoundCloud or Spotify, for example. My taste in music sucks, and I never am trying to present that fact to every person I've ever met in my life. Unfortunately, I often forget to use Spotify's time-limited "Private Session" feature and consequently admit to the world that I have listened to the same 12 songs non-stop on repeat for a whole 14-hour session online, then find out about it later when someone likes the activity and passively laughs in my face. That said, I can't legally say that I didn't authorize the embarrassment.

There almost always exist facilities to throttle how much or how little is shared, but those features tend to get as much attention as privacy policies when it comes to most people. Inundated with fair warning and granular control, my lethargy dictates that I will usually just opt to get laughed at. It rarely is the case that information is shared without your consent, although recollection of the consent may be a greater rarity.

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